The Last Padawan
by E.J.14
Summary: Zett Jukassa was the last surviving Padawan when Senator Organa arrived. He had to show Bail Organa what had happened, so that he would be able to stand for the Jedi in their darkest hour. But Zett also knew that he would not survive if he defended the Senator. There are his last moments. During ROTS, I just explored this character's point of view. One-shot.


Zett Jukassa was going to die, right here, and right now. He would die defending Senator Organa, on the landing pad to the Jedi Temple.

And Zett knew this. Zett knew that his death was immanent, but also very important for any hope in the future. The Force told him so.

The Force flowed through him in waves, calming him, guiding him. It told him that his death would not be in vain.

Zett had always been gifted in the Force; he'd always been able to let emotions go, to allow the soothing cool ocean that was the Force flow through him. But he had another gift as well.

Zett was especially gifted in sensing memories through the Force. All things left traces of what they'd done, and Zett could pick up their feelings in the Force, whether it be hatred, or happiness or sorrow. He could track the Force trace back to its owner if he really tried. He could _remember _memories that weren't his own upon contact with a person.

Now he remembered his life, his moments leading up to defending the Senator, up to his end. In the end, his ending would only be a beginning, for the Senator would know.

Senator Organa had to know what was going on. What had happened. What had been done. The Senator had to live so that he could tell of the innocent blood spilt here, in what was once a Jedi sanctuary.

As his life flashed before him, Zett though back to when he'd received the coded message on his comlink telling all Jedi to return to the Temple: the war was over. How excited he'd been, peace would finally be restored to the galaxy.

At the time, Zett had been in the scrap yards for Coruscant, searching for salvageable parts. A friend of his Master's needed a replacement for his protocol droid, and Zett wanted to help him out. But now, all thoughts of droids were forgotten as Zett rushed to the Temple.

In his joy, he had not noticed the disturbance in the Force, nor had he registered all of the pain and anger in the Force. He just wanted to return home to his friends, where they could celebrate the restoration of harmony throughout the galaxy.

Then he'd left the lower levels of the city of Coruscant, and had seen the Temple. He's seen the smoke rising for miles, the troops that marched outside. And it was in this moment of total confusion, that he felt it. The Force.

It was clouded, so clouded by echoes of pain. Clouded with voices suddenly silenced far too young, cries of misunderstanding from the youngest to the eldest, just before they were killed. No. Just before they were _murdered. _

It was then that Zett reached out, and felt the extent of what had been done. Masters had been slaughtered throughout the galaxy, just as their padawans had been slaughtered in their home.

"No…" This couldn't be happening. An attack on the Jedi themselves…that was impossible! The very thought that Zett was in a universe that was now void of all Jedi was unthinkable!

And yet, here he stood, knowing in his very heart that it was true. The friends he'd made, played with, sparred with, fought with, grown up with, were dead. Masters that he looked up to were dead, _his _Master was dead.

"No!" He cried more loudly this time, falling to his knees. Zett stared at his home, and for a moment was consumed by anguish, and pain. He let out a great sob of agony; anger, confusion, sorrow, all rolling into a heave of his chest.

That was when he felt something greater than death disrupting the Force. Something evil…dark…alive. He let the Force flow through him, and he was washed with the memories of those gone.

Amongst the cries of the deceased, there was one from someone still living. This was a cry of hatred, and rage and anger. A very powerful cry from a very powerful Force User. From a Sith.

A Jedi had fallen.

Not just any Jedi, but the most powerful one that the Force had ever known. Only one man could have released such an echo through the Force. Anakin. Anakin Skywalker

It was too much to bear.

Zett grasped at his heart, as overwhelming sorrow consumed him. "How? How could anyone do this?" He shook his head, he must be wrong. The Chosen One would never turn; he was supposed to bring balance to the Force. Right now he had to be with Kenobi, planning how to defeat the Sith. He _had_ to be.

TTT

Zett cloaked himself with the Force, stealing through dark alleyways and abandoned streets to head back to the Temple. There he would find answers; there he would find proof to condemn or save Anakin. There Zett would know if his worst fears had been realized.

As he dashed from pillar to pillar, avoiding the clones, he tried to push away the anger that was bubbling inside him. Jedi did not let their anger control them. Nor did he let his sorrow or fear control him, he must remain strong if there was any hope for the Jedi Order.

But when he encountered the first bodies, he lost all control. He ran into his fellow padawan, Ahsoka. She had been kind, and funny, and full of life.

Now her eyes stared blankly forward, a _light saber_ burn in the middle of her chest. Zett knelt down, crying, and he reached a hand over her eyes.

"Good bye, my friend." He touched her red skin, shutting her eyes, and receiving a flash of her last moments.

He was an invisible bystander as Ahsoka battled the clones. He watched as laser fire blasted all around her. She turned to two more padawans.

"Go! Take the younglings the Council room, they'll be safest there!" A boy Zett recognized as Nodrion, a twi'lek ushered the younger children through the door. "But what about you?" Ahsoka deflected a laser bolt back to a clone.

She turned, and Zett knew what that grim look said. Ahsoka was going to defend the Jedi with her life. "I'll buy you as much time as possible. Send a distress call to any Masters, maybe we can hold them long enough for some one to get here!" Another wave of Clones came up the steps. "Now go!"

Nodrion turned, and then faced Ahsoka once more. "Ahsoka?" She turned.

"What?" She half shouted.

"May be the Force be with you." She gave a sad smile.

"May the Force be with you." Nodrion took off after the younglings, and Ahsoka faced the endless odds. She held up her light saber, and set her feet.

Suddenly the clones parted, and Anakin walked through their ranks. Zett watched as confusion played out on her face.

"Skyguy?" She asked, and Anakin moved beside her. Zett could tell something was wrong.

"My name is not Skyguy." Anakin's voice was wrong, and Zett wanted to cry out a warning to her, but could only watch as Master Skywalker stabbed his own padawan through the chest. "My name is Darth Vader."

Zett snapped out of the memory, and a fresh wave of horror washed over him. Anakin had killed _his own padawan_.

This was too terrifying; too monstrous to even try and comprehend, much less accept. Anakin was The Chosen One! He should have brought balance to the force, not destroy it! Zett slowly sank into despair.

If someone as heroic as Skywalker could turn, then there was indeed no hope for anyone. But even as he thought this, he heard a voice.

"Zett…" His head shot up, and standing in front of him was Ahsoka. He looked down at her lifeless form.

"How…" She smiled.

"I always told you I'd come back, didn't I? Well here I am." Zett shook his head.

"I don't understand; how could the Force _allow_ something like this to _happen_?" Ahsoka shook her transparent head.

"Always worrying about the why." She looked up at Zett. "Look, I am one with the Force, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. But I have to tell you something." He rose.

"What?" Ahsoka's eyes turned sad.

"On the landing pad nearby, Senator Organa is coming to search for Yoda-"Zett's eyes shot wide with fear.

"He can't be here! The Clones will kill him!" She nodded.

"I know that's why I need to tell you this: Senator Organa has to know what's going on. He has to know what had happened here, or there will be no hope for the future." It dawned on Zett what he had to do, and he shut his eyes nodding.

"May the Force be with you, Zett." Ahsoka said, fading.

In that instant, Zett became more then a padawan. He became more than a Jedi Knight. He became the first member of the Rebellion, the first martyr for its cause.

As Zett raced to that fateful landing pad, he let the Force flow through him. He became more then a lone boy against clones, he became all of the lost Jedi against the Clones, from padawans to Jedi Knights.

Zett became the very hope for the future.

TTT

So now, as a laser from a faceless Clone slipped past his defenses, and he fell, he did not fear death. He felt the infinite flow of the Force, he was everything, everyone, everywhere, and yet he was still Zett.

"NO!" Senator Organa shouted, before speeding away. Zett gave a weak smile, as darkness enshrouded his vision. He was the thought in Bail Organa's mind to find and warn the remaining Jedi. He was the part of the plan that Bail Organa was forming to right these wrongs, to stand against this encroaching evil.

Zett took a final breath, and slipped away from his physical tether to the world. He slipped away into the eternity that was the Force, joining his friends as they stood in silent watch, waiting. They were waiting for peace.

Ahsoka stood beside him.

"It will be a long time before we see hope again." Zett nodded, turning to watch the Senator's ship fade in the distance. "And it will get much darker before the light shines again." Zett smiled, not worrying, feeling no fear, or anger, or hatred.

He was at peace.

"I know Ahsoka. But I also know that there is a day after every night. We may not have much to believe in now, but soon we will." Zett watched as halfway across the planet Anakin talked to his wife, Padme Amidala.

She was another martyr for the yet-to-be-formed rebels. A wave of sadness washed over him at her fate. But there was no way to survive the unendurable heartbreak she was about to face.

Ahsoka looked at Padme as well, and a silent tear slid down her cheek. "So kind, and beautiful." Zett nodded once more.

"But sad." Ahsoka shook her head once in acquiescence.

"Yes. So very sad." Zett watched as Padme held her husband close for one of the last times she'd ever see him. He watched as her hand absent-mindedly wandered to her belly. That was where all hope was held.

Not Obi-Wan, who was climbing out of the water on the Utapau, or Yoda, who was entering a secret escape pod on Kashyyyk. They were important, yes, but they were not the key to the future. They were teachers, to guide along the new generation of Jedi.

The old generation of Jedi stood behind Zett, the Masters, the younglings, the Knights and the Padawans. They were waiting for more then peace. They were waiting for hope.

Padme's children were the very thing that Zett had unknowingly died for. Zett stood next to his elders, his siblings, his equals. He spoke once more, voicing the thought that was on all of their minds. "Soon, there will be a new hope."

**Thank you for reading! I'd like to note an obvious error in my naming. I gave the padawan the name Tanner, when in reality, his name is Zett Jukassa. I'd like to thank IncognitoBoat for pointing this out, and give my sincerest apologies for my mess-up. My bad!**


End file.
